…a boomer muses about life, change, joys, sorrows and freedom from the prison of corporate life.

Confession To My Hairdresser

When we first met, it was like any new relationship. I had butterflies in my stomach, wondering, “Will she listen to me? Will she understand? Is she good at what she does?” And, I’m sure you had the same reservations. “Does she know what she wants? Will she be a joy or a pain? Is she a good tipper?” But it seemed to turn out well. You liked working on my hair and I liked what you did with it. We laughed. We talked. We skipped through a meadow of daisies together. (Oh no, wait, that’s from a movie.) At any rate, I thought we were set for life.

But then, you started slipping. You started letting yourself go – a little unevenness here, a little “boo-boo” there, but I so wanted to believe in you, believe in “us,” that I was in denial. “After all,” I argued to myself, “she still does the color the way I like it.” So I remained committed, never tipping less than twenty per cent and even giving you a little monetary gift at Christmas. But on my last visit, the dream died. I told you exactly what I thought needed to be done with the cut, and, did you do it? No, you did not. You made it look like you were doing it, but it was all a charade. What you did instead was unforgivable. You thinned my hair without my permission!

Oh, I didn’t notice at first. For almost four weeks I struggled, trying to bring some order to my hair – to no avail. I kept thinking it was something I was doing wrong. But it wasn’t. I asked my friend, Babette, for an honest opinion and she immediately saw the flaws. All of a sudden, all of the trust I had built up in you crumbled like a sandcastle being washed away on the tide.

But the turning point was a few days ago. It was when I realized that it wasn’t normal for me to be spending 12 out of 24 hours a day trying to deal with the shapeless mess that I used to call my hairdo. I decided to take action and made a 911 call to you. I told you I still had a week until my regular appointment, but that I simply needed a 15 minute appointment for you to do some first aid on my cut. I told you I was very, very unhappy. And, what did you say? You said, “So sorry, I’m booked up every single hour every single day until your appointment. I can call you if I have a cancellation.” Considering that I’ve never asked for a favor before, that was pretty cold. Considering that I’ve always been there for you, that was pretty flippant. Considering you don’t even come in until 10:00 a.m., I’d think you could have adjusted your schedule a little. But noooooo!

So you forced my hand! Don’t say you didn’t, because you certainly did! I marched right down to Great Clips and explained my problem. The stylist there, Mandy, actually listened to me (like you used to.) She saw it right away. She also saw where you had cut a chunk of hair out on one side, and that the back was uneven, as well. No wonder I’ve been losing my mind! And you know what she did, Karen? She took her time and fixed it as much as it possibly could be fixed, due to your indiscriminate chopping! It’s 100% better. And she didn’t charge me an arm and a leg for it, either! I felt appreciated. I felt loved.

So, as much as you might hate to hear it, here is my confession: I cheated on you…and I’m glad I did! It was refreshing to be with someone who didn’t take me for granted, someone who actually cares about how I feel. I cheated once and I’ll probably cheat again. It’s sad, too, because I’ll always think of what we could have had. And once you realize that I’m not letting you near my hair with scissors ever again, don’t blame me.

Coming from BPOW! Hey, I think that was my hairdresser the one time I thought it would be okay to run into one of those no-appointment places. I had just had a baby and it was my moment to run away. I decided quickly to get my hair done. My first clue that something went wrong was when she said, “Oops!” in the middle of cutting my hair. Well actually it was when she “fit me in” while she was in the midst of fixing someone’s hair she had made a mistake on. I knew i should run away but I didn’t! Ugh! lol Thankfully it’s grown out now. 🙂